Hawke Sport Optics XB Multi-Purpose: A Bearing Arms Scope Review

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way first: I consider Trent Marsh, the Brand Development & Communications Manager at Hawke Sport Optics, one of the really good guys in the shooting sports industry. We make sure to catch up whenever we’re in the same town, we bust each other’s chops on a regular basis, and generally get along famously both in real life and online. I’ve even bullied him into contributing a few articles here at Bearing Arms from time to time.

Consider this your warning up front that I might have a personal bias towards wanting to like the product under review, the Hawke Sport Optics XB Multi-Purpose Scope.

It also might help to explain the Hawke brand before we go much further, since it is a relatively new brand to the United States.

To condense their story as much as possible, Hawke Sport Optics is a U.K.-based company that has been in the optics business for 30 years in Europe, where they make a full line of optics including spotting scopes, binoculars, rifle scopes, crossbow scopes, game cameras, night vision gear, etc. Here in the U.S. they sell most of the same things, with the addition of a line of slug-gun scopes for shotgun hunters that we’ll likely review at some point in the future.

Now, where were we?

The Hawke Optics XB Multi-Purpose Scope is a zero-magnification (1x) scope with a 1″ tube and generous eye relief. It was originally designed for crossbows, but works great on shotguns and for close-range/utility work with rifles.